Federal government slammed for 'gutting' fisheries protection program

OTTAWA — The Harper government has announced major cuts to its fisheries habitat protection program, prompting a retired federal biologist to warn Wednesday of a dramatic increase in the risk of environmental damage.

The cuts coincide with Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield's launch of a public consultation process seeking input on how Canadian fisheries should be managed.

The announcement was mocked by government critics who predicted that Canadians will react cynically to being asked for their input long after the decision was made to make sweeping fisheries policy changes.

Retired federal fisheries biologist Otto Langer painted a grim picture of the impact of the job cuts on the environment.

"This puts (the department) back where it was in the early 1980s" in terms of staff and offices, Langer wrote in an email.

In the West, B.C. is facing a wave of new industrial projects, including Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline, new gas lines and gas liquefication plans, the New Prosperity gold mine, the Site C dam project on the Peace River, and the Roberts Bank port expansion.

"Never in the past 50-year history of habitat protection have we seen such great cuts in staff in the face of upcoming massive industrial development that can and will harm habitat and our fisheries of the future."

Ashfield, who has dismissed warnings that the Fisheries Act changes are intended to help industrial projects, said he now wants advice from the public.

"Our government values the input, expertise and advice our partners and stakeholders can provide in this process," he said in a statement.

The summer-autumn consultation will involve aboriginal groups, various levels of government, wildlife and conservation groups, and associations representing "major project developers and landowners."

The news release was issued shortly after news broke of a new round of federal layoff notices being issued to Fisheries and Oceans Canada employees.

The Fisheries department sent letters to 398 "affected" employees to warn them of the 132 positions being eliminated, according to the Union of Environment Workers (UEW).

Thirty jobs will be cut from the Pacific Region's 92 habitat staff, according to Langer.

UEW national president Todd Panas said it's a "little late" for Ashfield to consult Canadians, since the government has already "gutted" the Fisheries Act's habitat provisions.

"This is more than a 'dollars and no sense' exercise," he said in an email.

"It's calming the waters, so to speak, to allow industry and most specifically pipelines to cross literally hundreds of water crossings, with reduced regulations and inspections, if any."

"This is an ideological targeting of science and especially fisheries science," said Green Party leader Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

She said the Harper government should have long ago consulted people like four former federal fisheries ministers — Progressive Conservatives Tom Siddon and John Fraser and Liberals David Anderson and Herb Dhaliwal - before amending the legislation.

B.C. NDP MP Fin Donnelly said Canadians concerned about fisheries protection will "react with a high degree of cynicism" to the offer of consultations after the legislation has been dramatically altered.

Ashfield said in a statement that the government's staff reductions reflect the government's decision to move away from monitoring of projects deemed to be of no or little risk to fisheries.

"Canadians understand that there is a difference between low-risk projects, such as a new dock at the cottage, and high-risk projects, such as a hydroelectric dam or mining operations. Our new rules will reflect this difference and our operations will be adjusted to reflect these rules," he said.

Bill C-38 will replace the current ban on any activity that results in "harmful" alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat. It is being replaced by a prohibition against activity that results in "serious" harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or aboriginal fishery, or any fish that supports one of those three fisheries.

"Serious harm" is defined as the "death of fish" or any "permanent" alteration to, or "destruction" of, fish habitat.

The government says the law has been used by its own bureaucrats to harass landowners, especially farmers, as well as municipalities. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities was originally supportive, but later passed a resolution at its annual meeting calling for further study of C-38's Fisheries Act changes.

The government rejected all requests to split the environment-oriented components out of the 425-page omnibus budget bill.

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